Howling at the Moon
by Anubismark
Summary: What if Fenrir Greyback was more active in the Death Eaters? What if he was there when Voldemort attacked Godricks hollow? What if the resulting interference caused young Harry to be infected with Lycanthropy? What if the curse mingled with Lilly's protection? Its gonna be a Lycan Harry hopefully one of the few good ones. We'll see. M fore swearing, violence, maybe lemons NOT SLASH
1. Chapter 1

_Hello all. I am a long time reader with a number of unfinished works floating around my laptop. In an effort to help motivate me to complete at least this one, I have decided to upload what I have. If it works I hope to upload a new chapter at least once per month, hopefully more frequently. We'll see either way._

 _Warning this is unedited, and I am a new writer, so it won't be the greatest out there._

 **I do not own Harry Potter.**

 **Chapter One**

Sirius Black was conflicted as he watched his life burn down in front of him. On the one hand was an all-consuming rage screaming at him to hunt down the traitorous little rat that did this, and make him pay for what he has done in the most painful and drawn out way possible. Looking down at the child in his arms reminded him of the other desire strangling what was left of his thoughts, thoughts that soon wandered to the events leading to this moment.

They had thought themselves safe when they came to the decision to switch Secret Keepers. The Dark Lord Voldemort was hunting down and butchering all on his rather long list of enemies, but Headmaster Dumbledore recently revealed a prophecy that would soon see his best friends singled out, Should Voldemort ever learn of it. In an effort to delay Voldemort's wrath, his friends, James Potter, Lily Potter nee Evans and their first born son Harry James Potter, were soon hiding away at Godric's Hollow.

The small, rustic cottage had been the childhood home for Dumbledore ages ago. The grandfatherly Headmaster had seen fit to loan it to the potters to help hide them, he even taught them a rather useful charm known as the Fidelius. An ancient charm only recently rediscovered by Headmaster Dumbledore himself, the spell worked by removing all knowledge of a location from the general populous, but doing so required the knowledge to be kept safe by someone. A Secret Keeper, if you will. While any who knew the Secret could come and go as they liked once they knew the Secret, it was the Secret Keeper who would be the only being who could share the secret.

Naturally the first choice had been for Sirius Black to be the Secret Keeper. He had been James' best friend all throughout school. Brothers in all but blood there was nothing they would not do for each other, or either of their other two best friends, Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin. A well-known fact that caused Sirius to think it too obvious to choose him for such an important role, so they chose one of the others.

Remus lupin was, truth be told, the entire reason the four of them had become friends in the first place. During school Sirius and James had discovered that Remus had a deadly and reviled affliction that, were it known, would see him not only expelled from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but likely ruin what little life he could cling to. Most wizards did not take kindly to having a werewolf in the same town as their children, never mind one in the same school. Rather than run screaming for the hills James and Sirius had befriended the mopey young boy, and somewhere along the way they had encountered the final member of their group, Peter Pettigrew, and spent the next seven years thick as thieves. Even now they were all together in the fight against Voldemort.

Unfortunately the very affliction that brought them all together in school meant that they couldn't trust Remus in this instance. Voldemort had managed to gain the services of one of the most feared criminals in all of Europe, Fenrir Greyback. A man who was well known to be cruel, ruthless, sadistic, and more than a little unhinged. He was also the werewolf who had slaughtered Remus' family and infected him as a child. Because no one knew how much control an Alpha like Fenrir could exert over a lone wolf like Remus, no one could be sure the secret couldn't be drug out of him.

Then there was Peter. Even after all these years he was still known as the "hanger on" of their group. The one who was always following them, clinging to their shadows. The coward among the Lions of Gryffindor. No one would ever think they would trust that rat with anything so important. In the end they chose him to be the Secret Keeper. James and Lily had not lived to regret that decision. It turns out that the little rat had been too obvious after all, for not even a week later Sirius had shown up at the cottage to find it burning.

Rushing in Sirius stopped dead in his tracks as he saw James lifeless body laying on the stairs, wand in hand as four bodies clad in the black robes and white masks of Voldemort's little army of pawns. Death Eaters as he liked to call them. Sirius swallowed back a sob as he took solace in the fact that James had been able to die fighting to protect his family. James would have loved that. Shaking off his sorrow, for now, Sirius continued up the stairs looking for the others.

Stepping into the master bedroom Sirius saw what could only be chunks of the Great and Powerful Dark Lord Voldemort himself in varying states of cremation. Were it not for the lifeless head laying there with his hair, what little he still had at that point, smoldering. Looking around he soon found Lily hunched over the crib they had been using for Harry. Rushing over he pulled her back only to find her dead. She looked so peaceful, not a hair out of place on her crimson head. If he hadn't seen the vicious slit cross her throat, he might even believe she was just sleeping.

Hearing a cry brought his eyes back to the crib only for his heart to catch in his chest. There was little Harry staring up at him with tears in his bright emerald eyes and a quiver upon his lips. He was alive, oh thank all the gods in existence, he was alive. Sirius could feel tears start to well up in his own grey eyes. Reaching down to pick the child up, he almost didn't notice the claw still wrapped around his right arm, the thumb claw resting in one of two crescent cuts obviously made by the owner of the claw.

It might have even been difficult to identify who it once belonged to, given that it was cleanly severed at the elbow, blood even still flowing down into the crib below. Even if Sirius was not intimately familiar with this hand from past battles with the Dark Lord and his prized enforcers, it still would have been easy to identify. Only one man had embraced his curse so thoroughly that he was physically more monster than man. At Least Fenrir was now missing a whole arm, if not the rest of himself as well.

Carefully taking the claw out of Harry's shoulder, Sirius quickly cast one of the few healing charms he knew, managing to at least stop the bleeding. Collecting the child he quickly left the house even as it burned down around him. Stopping only when he was far enough to only feel a little of the heat from the fire he turned around to stare as he watched his life burn down in front of him.

Sirius was startled from his memories by the faint popping noise of apparition, the tell tale sound of wizarding teleportation. Turning around he was greeted by the sight of Headmaster Dumbledore, and one of his staunchest supporters Rubeus Hagrid. Walking over to them another faint pop revealed Remus had come as well.

"Sirius! What happened here? Why is my home on fire?" Dumbledore started.

"It was You-Know-Who. I don't know what happened, but his head is currently smoldering in the master bedroom. James and Lily are gone, but I've at least got Harry safe right here." Sirius responded.

"Is he hurt? May I see him? Thank you. Hagrid, please check the house." Dumbledore continued. Waving his wand over the sleeping child that Sirius had handed to him as Hagrid lumbered over to the smoldering ruins of Dumbledore's childhood home. Hearing the Headmaster's muttering turn from spells to confusion, and fear, to open sighs of relief. Finally, after what seemed like hours, he gave a resigned huff and called to Remus, who was glancing at the cottage nervously.

"Mr. Lupin, if you would join us for a moment, I believe we may have a slight problem. Thank you."

As soon as Remus was close enough Dumbledore once more began muttering and waving his wand around Remus, apparently looking for something. After a sigh of what seemed to be relief, he turned to hand the boy to Remus before speaking.

"What happened? How could you have led Voldemort to them?" He asked while slowly bringing his wand to bear.

"That's where you'd be wrong." Sirius replied morosely "I was just the damned fool who convinced James to make peter the secret keeper. I should have known he'd be the actual traitor."

"If that is the case you won't mind if I verify that myself do you?" Dumbledore asked. Seeing a nod from Sirius, he briefly intoned "Legilimens." causing both of their eyes to unfocus as he began reading Sirius' mind.

Moments later their eyes seemed to quickly regain focus. "Sirius, my boy, how could we have been so wrong about Peter all these years? I had thought he was the voice of reason amongst your friends." Dumbledore said. "Only for this betrayal. We shall need to notify the Madam Minister, But first we must decide what to do with young Harry."

"What do you mean Headmaster? I'm his godfather so of course I'm going to raise him!" Exclaimed Sirius. "What else could we possibly need to decide?"

"While that may still be the case, Harry would appear to have recently gained a few more… requirements in regards to his upbringing. Never mind that the public will idolize him to the point of making him their new messiah. Then there are the Death Eaters and their sympathizers, who will no doubt hunt young Harry down and kill him should they ever get the chance."

"I'm listening…"


	2. Chapter 2

I OWN NOTHING

 **CHAPTER TWO**

It was two years later that Sirius knew for certain Harry was different. Looking back it wasn't so hard to see it. But that's the thing with hindsight, it's always 20/20. That night when two of his best friends died, Dumbledore even went so far as to point blank tell them Harry had somehow survived being infected with Lycanthropy. A feat that would have been difficult for a fully grown wizard, and only gotten harder as one got younger. A ten year old would have been killed in an instant, but little one year old Harry survives. In point of fact he barely suffered at all, it was as if a switch was flipped and Harry went from full human to werewolf.

It shocked all those gathered to say the least. They nearly didn't believe it until Remus started sniffing at Harry, before falling to his knees crying. It wasn't until a week later that he explained his reaction, something about the wolf inside him accepting its new pack-mate.

It was eventually decided that Sirius would raise Harry, with Lupin's help, in the muggle world. Preferably America, given Voldemort had little influence if any outside of Britain and to a lesser extent Europe itself. Therefore it was prudent to go to America for a few years, so as to keep Harry safe from his overzealous new fans, just as much as his enemies.

A week later saw the trio of wizards on a boat coming into Ellis Island. True they intended to return to Britain eventually, but for the time being it was best to act as though they were here to stay. Thankfully MaCUSA had grown lax as of late. In the last twenty or so years the Magical Congress of the United States of America had gone from overzealous in its paranoia towards muggles, numerous laws dictating a strict barrier between anything magical and mundane, to something a little less draconian. Sure there were still more than a few laws regarding muggle interactions, or no-mag's as the Americans tended to call them, but you could actually talk with one these days without being reprimanded.

Within a month the trio had found their way from New York to Iowa. Why Iowa you might ask, Truthfully it was perfect for them. Overall happy people, low crime, miles of farmland filled primarily with tall stalks of corn. Perfect for hiding away and raising a child. Even the few magicals who lived there were far enough from the beaten path to be little more than pleasant, if distant, neighbors.

They settled down in the town of Millersburg, well admittedly less town and more village. Even by Magical standards it was tiny, the population couldn't have been more than 30. Mostly farmers and rednecks at that. For some reason it was one of the few locations that MaCUSA approved for recent immigrants.

Having bought an old farmhouse on the edge of the city limits they started setting up wards, turning it into a proper wizarding home. Going a little further with the basement, they set up a sort of safe haven so that Remus could have his "furry little problem" without worrying about harming anyone.

Having started with a cozy little one room basement barely big enough for anything more than a bed and barely tall enough for Sirius to walk with only a slight hunching of the shoulders, a problem for the noticeably taller Remus. First they expanded the room to be approximately five acres square, with a twenty foot ceiling. Then transfiguring the cement floor into grass and dirt, even a few shrubs. Following that with a collection of bars set about a metre, sorry YARD, from each of the walls. The resulting cage was then warded out the wazoo with reinforcement and unbreaking charms. In theory Remus would have enough room to run around, and chase some prey (either conjured or purchased) without putting anyone at risk.

A plan that worked beautifully for two years strait. Two years to forget about the pain of their friends deaths. Two whole years devoted to raising Harry. "Two years," Sirius realized, "that meant absolutely nothing it seemed." Of course one could hardly blame Sirius for his thought given the sight of his friend in front of him. Indeed, the scene on the other side of the bars would be most captivating for anyone, whether they knew what has happening or not.

Given that it was late into the night of the full moon, it should not be surprising to anyone that one Remus Lupin was in his safe space. Nor should the sight of the creature he had become be any more unusual.

At approximately eight and a half feet tall, the creature was a caricature of man and wolf. Having grown an extra two feet, but not gained the correlated mass meant that Remus resembled a scrawny, mangy coyote more than an actual wolf. Patchy fur sprinkled unevenly over pale, sickly skin. Claws long and sharp enough to skewer a small animal. Were it not for the godsend that was the Wolfs bane potion, one could also see the pain and bloodthirsty madness in the creatures eyes. Thankfully the aforementioned potion allowed Remus to keep his mind, although the excruciating pain remained a constant reminder of his accursed state.

An imposing image to say the least… or it would have been if Remus was not currently prowling around on all fours with a toddler riding him like a bloody pony!

"BLOODY HELL, MOONY!" Sirius all but screamed upon finding his godson sitting atop one of the magical worlds most dangerous creatures as though it were the most natural thing in the world. Needless to say after the initial reaction to yell out, the continuing shock of the sheer surreal nature of the situation was enough to cause Sirius to freeze as he witnessed the bizarre scene, before it got even weirder.

Right before his eyes he noticed the three year old sneeze as his form started to melt, for lack of a better term. The form of the healthy, if slightly pudgy, young boy started to ripple as bones were rearranged, fat moved, fine black hair spread from the mop atop his head, down across the remainder of his skin. His mouth and nose started to elongate and merge into a snout, as his ears shifted up his head a few inches before elongating into points. Strangely, while his feet shifted and contracted into paws and his legs bent back halfway down the shin, his hands and arms actually remained mostly unchanged, if a little longer over all. As the transformation appeared to be winding down, little Harry gave a soft chuff before rolling off of Remus' back. As he touched the ground with a soft thud, Sirius noticed his tail sprouting from above his butt.

It was at this point that Sirius gave a soft chuckle before he fainted.

Change POV

Remus, or Moony as his friend liked to call him, could only watch as his best friend fainted, thankful that the ground was soft enough to prevent injury. Not that his friend could be blamed, he thought with a mental sigh. Not having lips made the simplest of thing most difficult.

Admittedly he experienced similar reactions when dear little Harry popped in with a bout of accidental apparition. Not an unheard of event, but still extremely rare. Knowing there was no way to contact his friend, given he helped do a significant portion of the ward himself, he was prepared to spend the night huddled in a corner far from Harry. Right up till the child started clapping at him, calling out for his "Unc Moon." Dear god! It was hard enough to leave the kid be so he could go shopping, never mind actually denying him! So like any good caretaker he caved immediately.

Thankfully it was only a matter of time before Sirius came down to check on him. Now all Remus had to do was keep harry safe till then. A thought that was immediately shattered by Harry somehow climbing atop Remus, when he was an 8 foot high monster. The shock would have held Remus immobile had Harry not started steering him around the cage as though he were a pony, laughing all the while!

Soon enough Sirius came down the stairs, only to freeze at the sight in front of him, before fainting. "It's not like its that hard to see why though." Remus thought before he turned to look at Harry, and froze as well. For all of a minute when he realized that, yes, harry just turned into a wolf, though not in a way he was familiar with. Also yes, that was Harry currently gnawing on his ankles like some sort of… well ankle biter… if nothing else, life was about to get interesting.

\\(°¥°)/

The next morning Remus and Sirius were at the dining room table staring at Harry as he sat in his high chair "eating" his breakfast. Finally breaking themselves from the ever intriguing sight of the child they were attempting to raise, they began to converse.

"Last night actually happened, right Moony? It wasn't some weird dream?" Began Sirius. "Our little Harry actually apparated, before his first transformation? I wouldn't think apparition would be possible without actually learning it, never mind accidentally as a bloody three year old! And then, when he finally turns for the first time in his life, he turns into something completely different from an actual werewolf! After the first year without change I had begun to hope he had been somehow saved from that particular curse, and now this!"

Seeing a break in his friends apparent nervous breakdown Remus decided to cut in.

"Sirius Orion Black! Calm yourself before you over aggravate the werewolf with a migraine from hell, especially so soon after the full moon! As it stands you already have Harrys undivided attention." Ensuring he had his friend's attention he calmly continued "Now, I would like to point out that, although nigh unheard of, accidental apparition is in fact possible. How young and how far he went could be indicative of his magical ability when he is grown. As for whatever it is he turned into, i haven't the foggiest of clues. Save that it wasn't a werewolf. As someone who is trying to earn their Mastery in Defense Against the Dark Arts, this should be rather telling of the severity of our plight. I think we need help."

"Good lord Moony, I'd almost forgotten about your love of too many big words. But You're right, i think we should call the Headmaster."

Pausing to acknowledge the owl that flew in with the mail allowed Remus to continue while Sirius looked through the various "bills" of the day.

"Right well, what did you expect? I'm the only Marauder who actively applied himself, of course I'm going to be the one with the stellar vocabulary." Noticing his friend's face morph into confusion and concern he said "Padfoot? What's wrong? What's in the mail?"

His only response was to be handed the letter Sirius had been reading.

 **Master Sirius Orion Black**

 **We of the London branch of Gringotts Bank for Wizards are inordinately pleased to inform you of the timely passing of Lord Orion Black III Head of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black. The funeral will be held on the Third of April at 330 in the evening, followed by the reading of the Will at 600.**

 **Razorfist**

 **Lead Account Manager for the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black**

 **Gringotts Bank for Wizards**

 **London Branch**

"Well," said Remus "that's a thing."

"Indeed it is, Moony, indeed it is."

"Wait… weren't you disowned during our seventh year? Something about not being Black enough? I still find it strange they took as long as they did."

"Indeed i was, Moony, indeed i was. Mother was ever so proud to hear I had almost gotten Snivellus killed. Finally putting the half-blood in his place, she said. I'd never seen her turn that shade of purple before, once i told her what actually happened. She burned me of the family tapestry right then and there. Thank heavens you and Prongs finally forgave me."

"in any case Gringotts would never allow themselves to be mistaken, so you must still be in the family. You'll need to start packing for the funeral, it should only take about a day to get back to England. That will give you about a week and a half to see about bringing the Headmaster over for a visit afterwards. After last night I would imagine Harry will be fine in the basement with me if you do need to take longer."

"I'm really not looking forward to a family reunion." Sirius said with a sigh.


End file.
